ANNAPOLIS, Md.—The Navy football team, coming off an 8-5 campaign that saw the Mids win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy for the eighth time in the last 10 years and appear in a bowl game for the ninth time in the last 10 years, will face a challenging 2013 schedule that includes seven bowl teams from 2012 including a Notre Dame team that played for the BCS National Championship.

The Mids have an attractive five game home schedule in Annapolis that includes games against Service Academy rival Air Force, Pittsburgh, in its first year in the ACC, on Homecoming and Football Championship Subdivision power and local rival Delaware. The annual Army-Navy Game Presented by USAA, which is the greatest rivalry in all of sports, will be played on Dec. 14 in Philadelphia.

“This will once again be an incredibly challenging schedule for our football team,” said Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo. “With seven teams on our schedule that went to bowl games a year ago and with four teams from BCS conferences on the schedule, our young men will have to work extremely hard this offseason to accomplish all of our goals next year. I think we have a great home schedule and I hope our fans and the Brigade will be excited about the quality games we are playing at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, as we will need that home field advantage.”

Navy kicks off the 2013 campaign on Sept. 7 when the Mids travel to Bloomington, Ind. to take on the Indiana Hoosiers of the Big 10. It will be the latest Navy has started a season since 1998 when the Mids opened at Wake Forest on Sept. 10. Meanwhile, it will mark Navy’s first trip to Bloomington since 1986. Last year, Navy rallied for a thrilling 31-30 victory over Indiana in Annapolis.

The Mids return to Annapolis the following Saturday (Sept. 14) to take on Delaware in the home opener. This will be the sixth meeting between the two squads since 2003 with Navy holding a slim 3-2 advantage over the Blue Hens.

After an off week, Navy travels to Bowling Green, Ky. to take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and first-year head coach Bobby Petrino. Western Kentucky was 7-6 last year including a loss to Central Michigan in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. Western Kentucky will be the first of six-straight opponents that participated in a bowl game a year ago.

Air Force comes to Annapolis (Oct. 5) the following week as Navy will look to defend its title as the top Service Academy football team in the first game of the round-robin competition between Navy, Air Force and Army for the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy. Navy defeated Air Force last year, 28-21, in overtime. The last 10 games between these two rivals have been decided by an average of 5.2 points per game with the last two games going to overtime. Air Force finished last year 6-7 after losing to Rice, 33-14, in the Armed Forces Bowl.

The Mids will hit the road the next two weeks playing at Duke on Oct. 12 and at Toledo on Oct. 19. Duke is coming off its most wins (six) since 1994 and played Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl, while Toledo finished 9-4 in 2012 and played in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl where it lost to Utah State.

The Mids return home to face a Pittsburgh squad on Homecoming (Oct. 26) that is coming off a six-win season and an appearance in the BBVA Compass Bowl against Ole Miss. Pitt will be in its first season as a member of the ACC.

The Mids travel to South Bend, Ind. the following week (Nov. 2) to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame is coming off a season that saw it go undefeated in the regular season and play Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game.

Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo’s alma mater, Hawai’i, will come to town on Nov. 9 to take on the Midshipmen, while South Alabama will travel to Annapolis the following week (Nov. 16) to play Navy for the first time.

The Mids will travel to San Jose State on Nov. 23. The Spartans are coming off an 11-2 season and a victory over Bowling Green in the Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman, 29-20. San Jose State has beaten Navy in each of the last two seasons.

The Mids will cap off the 2013 season on Dec. 14 against Army at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. The Mids won last year’s game in thrilling fashion, rallying for a 17-13 victory. It was Navy’s 11th-straight victory over the Black Knights, which is a series record.

CBS has the rights to all of Navy’s home football games and either CBS or CBS Sports Network will televise all five home contests. Navy’s game at Notre Dame will be televised by NBC, while CBS is home for the Army-Navy Game. Game times and television information for the rest of the road schedule will be announced at a later date.

With six wins in 2013, the Mids will appear in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth, Texas. A date has not been set for the bowl game.